minds alike
by imposing imposter
Summary: naruto's only real friend growing up was kyubi. good kyubi fic kyubi's a girl, backstory inside plz rr
1. Chapter 1

Hello to all you out there who took the time to read this. Thanks for dropping by

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or concepts of this fic I use them solely for entertainment and make no profit from this work

Distribution: if you want to put this story anywhere go ahead just give me my credit where it's dew

"Blah" speech

'Blah' thoughts/mental communication

Chapter one: The end of normal

* * *

Sunlight.

Dreaded enemy of the sleeping young.

It was this dreaded foul creature that woke him. It was not by choice or need but just because.

He rose slowly from his bed and looked at the clock. Six a.m., the same time as yesterday and the day before. Always the same, and today even being the day it was, was no exception. No one knew what today was. No one had ever cared to ask but to the young blond just rising from his single bed in his tiny apartment where he lived alone it was a terrible reminder of his loneliness.

Today he would be twelve. Today he was a year older and that was basically all it meant, and it nearly crushed his spirit as it had on all the previous eleven that no one even knew or bothered to ask. And to day had no reason to be any different.

'They never even ask' thought Naruto bitterly. 'Not once has any one asked when my birthday is'. He looked into the mirror as he brushed his teeth. "Don't look any older," he said to no one.

He finished his morning cleaning routine and picked out a clean black undershirt and his classic orange jacket pants combo and left his apartment heading toward the academy lacking his usual flair and looking for all the world like a completely normal twelve year old. Any who knew Naruto would immediately realize he must be quite sad and even depressed to act like this but then he could count the people who had actually taken the time to get to know him on two fingers.

Technically there were three beings that really knew him but he had long since chosen that, while a stead fast friend and often voice of encouragement, the fox demon was simply not a person and not really able to help him through his life as he had often wished.

Unbeknownst to Naruto the fox sealed in his belly was likewise wishing she had the ability to help him.

* * *

(AN: the rest of this chapter will be devoted to the back story so feel free to tell me if you like the concept or not, flames will help me to get to what you like so feel free)

* * *

Twelve years earlier she had been summoned onto this plane by an odd pale man with yellow eyes and ordered to attack and destroy the hiddenvillage Konoha. When she had refused he had used an incredibly powerful genjutsu to drive her into a violent rage, then pointed her towards the unfortunate and unprepared village. Blinded by her rage she attacked the village and killed many, but just as she neared the main residential areas of the village she saw a young man running toward her. It was strange to her but as he drew closer she saw that he had a small odd shaped bundle wrapped up and tied to his back. There had been a flash and then everything had gone dark.

But the fox in the boys belly knew nothing of this. During the sealing process both the fox and the boy had lost their memory. As the boy was only hours old at the time no one knew any of this was to happen.

So inside her seal the fox demon had been reborn with no knowledge of anything. The lack of knowledge caused her to emulate the first thing she saw and that was Naruto. The body and gender of the fox remained the same but the intellect and perception became that of an infant. This perception caused the fox to take on the form of an infant girl.

As Naruto grew so did the fox inside him. Their continued existence was unknown between the two of them for the first three years of Naruto's life. Then during the summer of his third year, an angry shinobi who had lost a brother to the fox's attack had finally snapped and chosen to find his revenge by killing the boy who held the fox within him. The man snuck into the orphanage where the boy was staying and found his room. With out a sound the man drew a kunai from his pouch and stabbed the boy straight through the left lung. Thinking the boy must surely be dead the man quickly fled the scene in a puff of smoke.

The boy for his part was not dead but the shock drove him into his own mind. Seeing the little boy again raised the spirits of the fox immensely as she thought he had forgotten her. But as she saw the condition the boy was in her stomach dropped and her smile faded instantly. She rushed to the bars of her cage and even though her body appeared small enough to fit through for some reason she could only reach out. She stretched and stretched as far as she could and begged him to be all right, and just when she thought he was gone he reached forward and dragged himself the last bit forward and placed his hand in hers. She wasted no time and pulled him into the cage with her.

The moment he crossed into the cage, there was lightning everywhere. It hurt her to hold his hand and at the same time she couldn't let go. The lightning passed from her into him and it was at once the best and worst feeling she had ever experienced. She finally managed to let go and was shocked when he flew straight back out of the cell. She saw that his body was beginning to smoke and steam and was overrun by worry. Had she hurt him? Was he going to be ok? Was he even alive? Her worry turned swiftly to fear. How had he got here in the first place? How had he been injured?

And with that final question to her self the fear turned to anger and further to a rage she had never felt since after her memory loss. 'Someone has hurt him,' she thought. Some one had caused the wound in his chest and it was causing him great pain, maybe even killing him. 'Who hurt him' she thought. 'I'll make them pay!'

The young boy had been the only one to ever visit her, even though he had only come once. It was her first and fondest memory. For some reason she was stuck here in this cage and all alone, but the first thing she had seen was a tiny boy lying in the water just outside the her prison, crying his eyes out. That memory had kept her going in the hope that maybe he'd come back and see her again.

Now he had come back to see her but someone had hurt him, possibly killed him. This couldn't be allowed. She couldn't let him die. Some how she just had to keep him safe, she had to make sure he would be ok. To do that, she had to get out, get out and make the one responsible sorry he was ever born. These thought ran through her head and then suddenly she was out.

No bars, no hallway with water allover the floor, no cave, just a small room with a large (in her eyes) bed. But what really caught her eye wasn't the bed but the large red stain on it. Blood. His blood. She could tell by the smell that it was his. And she could also smell a trace of it heading out of the room.

'The one who hurt him' she thought. 'I'll hunt him down!' With that she hoped over to the window and with an inhuman growl she was off.

She awoke back in her cage content that the bastard responsible for the boy's injury would never be able to hurt the boy again. She looked out through the bars and was elated to see the boy watching her from a corner propped up against the wall. She smiled a wide smile at the boy and waved a little hand.

The boy returned her smile and wave as he pushed him self up, and waddled over to the bars.

"Where am I?" the boy asked.

"You came back to visit silly" replied the fox.

"I was here before?" asked the boy.

"Yep!" she replied with a smile and a nod

"Ok then," the boy smiled "I'm Naruto, what's your name?"

"Umm," she nervously bit her lip "I don't have one" she looked at the floor embarrassed and sad at her lack of a name.

"Well that just crazy!" yelled Naruto "Everyone needs a name! How come you don't have one?"

"Well no one ever gave me one," she explained "and the only one to ever come visit me is you"

"Ok then we'll have to think of one," smiled Naruto" you look kind of like a fox, I heard of a really powerful fox named Kyubi, how's that?"

"Wow," she exclaimed with little sparkles in her eyes " that a pretty name, you really think I could have that name?"

"Sure, it's not like anyone else is using it," he smiled a smile so wide he had to close hi eyes.

"Ok then," smiled Kyubi, " if you think it's ok then I'll make it my name,"

"All right!" Naruto whooped and he leapt in excitement "that's great Kyubi-chan, but it's late and if I don't get back to bed the old lady of the orphanage will be mad"

"Will you come back tomorrow?" pleaded Kyubi her face and hopes falling.

"I don't know if I can but I'll try," he promised. "Night Kyubi-chan" he called out as he faded away.

The next morning when he awoke, Naruto felt an odd presence in the back of his mind.

'Who's there?' he thought.

'It's me, Kyubi' came the voice. 'I'm not sure how but I think I'm in your head' her voice cam in light and happy. 'Let's be friends ok?' she asked

'Really? You'll be my friend?' Naruto asked. He had never had a friend before, as all the other kids were scared of him for some reason and the grownups were always glaring at him.

'Of cores I will!' came the reply with a mental smile. 'If … If you want me to' she voiced shyly.

'Hooray!' thought Naruto. 'I've always wanted a friend!'

'Well now you've got one!' came Kyubi's happy voice with another mental smile.

AN: ok how was that? This is my first fic so I'm going to start slow plus with school and stuff so if you like it tell me and I'll try to get it updated for you.

I've read a few fics where the Kyubi is female and I had this idea that maybe it wasn't always evil. Pleas forgive me if some people are out of character but I'm kinda changing the whole time frame here.

Next chapter will return at the gennin exams.

I'm trying to decide if I want to pair Naruto up with an already existing girl or if I should find a way to brin Kyubi out of him and pair them up. Let me know

R/R pleas. I need feedback!


	2. Chapter 2

Ok people because I want to finish an idea I've decided to finish this fic whether you like it or not so all that don't feel free to not read but pleas don't flame. 

Now that that's taken care of I would like to say that this will stick to the story of the manga at many points but is in fact an AU so many things will change. I wont just give him all his skills cause he doesn't have many at this point in time in the manga. He will learn most of the same skills but I just can't get a few ideas for new and different techniques out of my head so I will include any new jutsu info in the post chapter author's note. I also decided that having these new jutsus would change their individual fighting stiles so I have sacrificed Naruto's rasengan and Sasuke's chidori.

Any other qualms will be dealt with after you bring them to my attention but any complaints about things I've already explained will be fed to my Ork hordes.

On with the show

* * *

He looked up at the building in front of him and swallowed a nervous lump in his throat. 'This is it,' he thought 'this will show whether I've got what it takes to be a shinobi or not,' He looked up and stared at the clouds. How fitting that the day of his birthday should be the same day as his 'birth' into his ninja career, was completely lost on Naruto. He spared not a thought to the irony that the day no one would acknowledge as his birthday was the day he would have to prove himself worthy of recognition. He had only three thoughts on his mind at the time.

He was nervous, he was hungry, and he was, most importantly, 15 minutes late! He dashed into the already full classroom and took his customary seat at the very back. He was lucky that the instructor was Iruka sensei, as he was allowed to enter at all with this tardiness. He had been awake long into the night training in every skill he could think of just for this test, and had slept just through his alarm.

"As I was saying," continuing his lecture, thankfully without drawing any more attention to Naruto's rather late and rather hasty entrance. "The genin exam consists of three main parts. The first being an obstacle course to be completed without the use of any jutsu to prove physical readiness, a single random jutsu test to check your basic skills, and a target practice game to test your aim and mental readiness,"

'Ok,' thought Naruto on his way to the target test. 'I can defiantly make the obstacle course and the jutsu shouldn't be too hard but what's this target game?'

Once out on the practice field, Iruka sensei handed everyone sheet of sealed, folded paper. "on my mark you will unseal and unfold your paper. You have 30 seconds to hit as many proper targets as you can without hitting an improper one. The targets are marked with one of the symbols; sun, water, fire, leaf, and spire, and the color; red, white, blue, green, black, and gray. Hit your targets in the order they appear in on your card, and how far you get will be your grade," He said with a smile.

'Wow' thought Naruto. 'This could be harder then I thought'

'Don't worry about it,' assured Kyubi. 'You'll do great!'

'You think so?'

'I know so'

With his new confidence and Kyubi's belief in his mind Naruto stepped up to the mark and readied his paper.

"Ready?" asked Iruka sensei.

"I'm ready," replied Naruto

"GO!"

Naruto unfolded his paper and saw; white sun, red flame, blue water, black spire, and gray leaf. He drew his five kunai and looked at the target field. White sun. Toss. Hit! Red flame. Toss. Hit! Blue water. Toss. Hit! Black spire. Toss. Hit! Grey leaf. Toss. Naruto looked at where his fifth kunai had landed and was disappointed. He had hit the green leaf instead of the gray one. Having all the other symbols as their natural colors had thrown him off and so he had aimed for the green leaf as naturally the leaves where green.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' Naruto mentally berated himself. 'I should have had that one!'

'Hey, calm down. You did really well,' Kyubi said, trying to alleviate his fears and get him to stop beating himself up. 'You hit four out of five targets. That guarantees that you pass this test,' Kyubi always hated to see him beat himself up for things like this. He always made himself relive his failures; ever since she had known him he had never accepted his true skills. He acted big and strong and even somewhat arrogant on the outside but only as a safety measure. If he could convince everyone that he was good at everything then they wouldn't try to hurt him like that man had when they were three. He had little actual confidence in his skills but put out the brave face and loud personality to gain acknowledgment from the villagers. He starved for an attention he could get. Even negative. But his constant self-deprecation often saddened her.

'Come on, you have to buck up,' attempted Kyubi. 'I bet no one hit all five' as soon as the words left her mouth she wished she could take them back as not only had someone hit all five, but it had been Uchia Sasuke. Ever since they had first met three years ago Sasuke and Naruto had been on bad terms. Having had his whole clan wiped out, Sasuke had been almost as much a loner as Naruto. But Sasuke had everything Naruto had ever wanted other then a family, which the lack there of, they shared in common. Sasuke had acknowledgment and adoration of adults and many of the girls in the academy. Sasuke had near perfect skills. Sasuke could get whatever he wanted if he just asked and this was why he and Naruto had never been friends. Sasuke had all these going for him and all he did was train and act like a jerk. He never once asked for or gave advice or encouragement to anyone. He never spoke to anyone and never went out with friends. Never even had friends and it just drove Naruto nuts.

Naruto scowled at the back of Sasuke's head and tried to bore into his skull unsuccessfully. His rival had upstaged him again and it made him angry.

'Naruto listen to me,' pleaded Kyubi. 'You need to calm down for the jutsu test,'

But her pleas fell on def ears. Naruto refused to calm down and would show that bastard Sasuke. He watched stewing in his anger as Sasuke executed a perfect three-bunshin jutsu and was suddenly very worried. Bunshin no jutsu was his worst skill. He had almost no talent in making clones of him self. It was in this state of mind that he attempted the jutsu on his turn.

He stepped up, and readied his chakra and performed the proper hand seals. There was a great puff of smoke and when it had cleared there stood Naruto as a small slightly misshapen and clearly incomplete clone struggled to stand beside him.

He had failed. He had created only a single clone and it had been incomplete and incorrect. All the other students had split into at least three. He was the worst of all of them. Dead last. Unable to bare the humiliation, he ran from the class and into the village.

Iruka sighed. He had hoped Naruto would have improved his jutsu and maybe even stuck around for the obstacle course. He had no choice now but to fail Naruto.

* * *

Naruto ran blindly through the village in rage and despair, trying to flee from his humiliation. He ran so fast that only the jounin he passed ever saw more then a yellow blur and many of them just passed it off as a fellow jounin or anbu on an errand.

Kyubi raged in her cell, not at Naruto or his antics as she had long learned how he worked, but at the fact that she couldn't even get him to hear her in the state he was in. he was so upset that he couldn't even see where he was going.

And just as suddenly as he had taken off, he stopped.

He stood on the balcony leaning against one of the posts as he stared up at the Hokage monument. All he could think of was his failure.

'Hey, it's not that bad. You can try next year and you'll be even more ready for the test,' said Kyubi.

"No! It's not fair! I failed! Stupid Sasuke always beats me! Every time." He broke down in tears.

Kyubi wished nothing more than to hold him and comfort him. Cursed her imprisonment and her inability to hold the boy who she had spent her whole life with. The only one who even seemed to know she existed and as he suffered all she could do was watch and add commentary. She had never felt so useless and had never been angrier with herself. If only she could break out of these stupid bars. If only she could offer more than just words of comfort and encouragement. If only she could be a true friend to him and make him see how special he was. But she was stuck on the sidelines and he wasn't even listening to her.

He sat and sobbed for hours and never once did he try to speak to anyone. Realizing he wanted to just be silent for a while Kyubi stopped pestering him. They sat in total silence till near sunset when something neither expected happened. Naruto's teacher showed up. This wasn't the unexpected part as Iruka was one of the only people who cared and often tried to comfort Naruto. The unexpected thing was that is wasn't Iruka who showed up but his counter part, Mizuke sensei.

"Hey kid," said Mizuke. "Why'd you run off?"

"I made a fool of my self with that pathetic jutsu. That damn Sasuke always dose better then me" said Naruto, now more grumpy then sad.

"You know," said Mizuke, with a strange gleam in his eyes. "I bet you could pass if you learned a really great jutsu, and I know just the one."

"Really!" exclaimed Naruto, his hope rapidly rising. 'A new jutsu, that'd be perfect. This would be just the thing to prove how great a ninja I am. Plus I bet it'll just burn Sasuke up that I can do an amazing jutsu that he can't' thought Naruto mulling all the things he could do with his supposedly great new jutsu and how badly he'd beat Sasuke.

He was so wrapped up that he didn't see the gleam in Mizuke's eyes become more malicious and his grin become more evil. "Yeah, it's the perfect jutsu for you"

"You can teach me?" Asked Naruto becoming very exited and curious.

"No." said Mizuke with finality.

"What?" Screamed Naruto. "Then why'd you even bring it up?"

"No, no don't misunderstand," explained Mizuke looking increasingly exasperated. " I know where you can find it and what to look for but I can't teach you because this jutsu is so great, even I don't know how to do it"

"Wow!" exclaimed Naruto. " Not even you can use it? It must be a jounin technique then!" This new jutsu was looking better all the time.

"Nope," said Mizuke. " This is one of the Hokage's personal techniques. He has it all written down on a big scroll in his private library,"

"One of the Hokage's special techniques!" Shouted Naruto. "What do I have to do?"

"It's actually pretty simple," smiled Mizuke. "You go get the scroll while I distract the personal guard then meet me at the number twelve training ground out in the forest ok? Then we'll both read the scroll and I'll help teach you,"

"Ok that sounds fair," said Naruto starting to doubt the chunin who was giving him these instructions. Why would a chunin want to cause a distraction and let a genin do the actual theft? Plus Naruto was the loudest ninja in the entire village. It would only make sense that he distract everyone and that the more skilled Mizuke should go in for the theft.

'I smell a rat' thought Naruto getting Kyubi's attention

'I agree, it would be much easier if the jobs were reversed,' Kyubi paused in thought. 'It may be a set up with you as a fall guy just so he can get the scroll,'

'That's just what I was thinking but I still want to learn the new supposedly great jutsu,' Naruto paused and then mentally started to grin. 'Maybe we can switch off,'

'Are you thinking what I'm thinking' said Kyubi with her own mental grin forming.

'Oh I think I am. We do share a head you know,' by now both were sporting identical grins showing all their teeth and forcing them to squint as they began their plot.

* * *

A.N.: ok ok I know that ending it there will put a few off but I really needed Naruto's plot to form and finish in the same episode as the next big event I planed so I'll just have to ask you all for forgiveness with the cliffy ending.

In the next few chapters will be my major disruption of the timeline so pleas don't get all huffy, but a few thing will be quite different and many characters will be really OOC

Ok that's that so stick around if you can put up with me.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks to all who have reviewed up till this point and thanks to anyone reading this.

Ok first the disclaimer has now become "I own nothing but the plot of this story" because this has now become a bit of a cross over so see if you can guess what the crossover is.

That's all so now on with the show

* * *

Chapter 3

The sun set over the Hokage monument when Naruto stuck out with his plan. It was simple but then most good plans are quite simple. Taking the form of Mizuke he stole into the Hokage's house.

Using the shadows and the rafters he managed to get all the way to the library without problems but then he hit the worst thing that could happen. The third Hokage was sitting in his library. If it was anyone else he could have tried to bluff that he was here on order of the Third but now that was way out.

'Only one thing I can think of,' thought Naruto 'Hey Kyubi-chan, mind closing your eyes?'

'What for?' asked Kyubi suspiciously.

'Well…It's the only thing I can think of,' Naruto blushed and hung his head as he prepared for his mental roommate's righteous indignation. He could almost hear her swelling up

'NO! No way I won't allow it!' she yelled. 'It's degrading to women and shinobi at the same time and is a horrible little thing that I can hardly believe you thought up!'

'Kyubi,' he sighed. 'It's the only way and I'm going to do it so either close your eyes or watch.'

'Fine but after this you are so going to get it!' Kyubi said closing her eyes

Naruto dropped into the library with his standard noise but slightly less in his guise of a skilled chunin. Hearing him the third shot up and looked right at him.

"Mizuke?" questioned the Third, staring dumbfounded at Naruto.

'Perfect!' thought Naruto, before screaming out; "Sexy no Jutsu!"

Instantly he was covered in a thick smoke and popped out as…a naked smiling very beautiful girl.

The third's stare became more lecherous and a small gleam dropped into his eyes until his face changed again in the same second to puzzlement as he felt a strange pressure in his head. He realized the next second as a huge amount of blood shot out of his nose so fast and pressurized that it flung him backward as he feinted.

'You can look again' thought Naruto back in his Mizuke guise.

'If I could kick you I would!' Kyubi raged somewhere in between angry with Naruto for inventing the perverted jutsu, embarrassed that the Hokage's reaction, and strangely wishing she could have that affect on Naruto. She shook those thoughts from her head and decided they had already overstayed their welcome. She told Naruto as much and he agreed.

Grabbing the scroll they came for Naruto jumped out the window and made sure to run right at the real Mizuke while alerting the Anbu guards to his presence as a thief. Dumping a decoy scroll straight into Mizukes arms he dashed around a corner and dropped the hengen just in time to watch Mizuke get the heck beaten out of him for breaking into the Hokage's house.

Smiling and laughing to him self, Naruto snuck off to the woods.

* * *

Arriving in the clearing he'd already set up, Naruto propped up the scroll and started to read.

The scroll started with some kind of warning and a sign of a red mountain. It seemed familiar to Naruto and opening it further he found six symbols; a red mountain, a blue water drop, a green leaf, a yellow sun, a black skull, and a gray spire.

'Weird,' thought Naruto, but intrigued he read on.

_This scroll is only for those who have the power to tap all five colors of chakra. The first exercise in learning the techniques in this scroll is to gather and separate all five colors of chakra. Look into yourself and do not proceed further until you can separate all five different colors._

'Wow that sounds kind of hard,' thought Naruto.

'Well you'll never know till you try,' said Kyubi. 'No one knows you're here yet and it'll take a while for them to find you once they find out so just start meditating already!'

'OK!' smiled Naruto, exited to try this new thing he'd never even heard of and doubted even the bastard Sasuke knew anything about this.

Naruto concentrated on the five colors of chakra as he molded it and found that as he looked into his chakra pool he saw that it was all a swirl of colors. Predominantly red and yellow, followed by black and a little blue, hardly any green but it was still there.

Using the technique laid out in the scroll (A.N.: I'm far to lazy to write out a complex meditation technique.) he concentrated on his abundant red chakra first. There was so much that focusing on it and pulling it away from the rest was easy but time consuming. After nearly half an hour he had it all off in it's own pool.

That done he went on to his yellow. This was a harder task as he had a lot of it but it was more entwined then the red had been. It seemed to be like a strand in a rope where as his red had been like a rope on a pile of ropes. He looked at the other colors and found them the same as his yellow chakra. This confused him. Why would his red be so less entwined with his other colors of chakra? But in the end it made his job easier.

After unwinding his yellow chakra his black, blue and green chakra unwound almost on their own. Now with his five separate pools of chakra, he wen't back to the scroll to look up what new jutsu's he could learn.

* * *

The scroll was divided up into each color so he decided to start with his strength and moved to the red section.

The first jutsu he saw was called "Rock speaker no Jutsu". The discriptiong said it was to produce extra red chakra. Thinking of his abundance he learned it quickly so he could move on.

He was glad he had because almost all the other techniques would require a lot of red chakra, and all recommended to start with the mindset of "Rock speaker".

Realizeing that he would have to build he started at the more basic and slowly moved his way along. By the time the sun came up he had learned and stored away almost all the red and move on to the yellow, which the scroll insisted was called white.

He would be unable to learn it though as at that moment he began to feel a slight commotion. Using his "Rock speaker no Jutsu" to tap into the red chakra of the rocks and soil in the ground beneath him he felt six feet hit the earth then rebound. He felt no more and realized that they must be up in the trees. Choosing discretion as the better part of valor, Naruto used a summoning jutsu laid out in the scroll to summon a mid sized "Frostling" which not only froze the area around it but would provide a distraction for him to escape back to the Hokage's house.

If he was lucky the old geezer would help him learn the rest of the scroll but at the very least for all his hard work to learn the techniques properly, he would lessen the punishment for stealing it.

Course of action decided, he dogged around the probable locations and sprang back into the village. He hopped the wall and was instantly astounded by the height of his leap. Naruto had always prided himself on his physical skills as they were his best attribute, but now he was just shocked.

He wasn't the only one surprised by the sudden four story leap.

'How the hell did you do that?' screamed Kyubi.

'I have no clue, but I intend to make use of it!' replied Naruto as he launched himself at the Hokage's house marveling at his own speed.

A.N.

Ok so there's another chapter and hey hurrah to anyone who found out the cross over and to any one who actually has a life and didn't get the uber specific thing that hinted to it well I'll tell you next chapter so don't fret

Again I must thank you all for any and all feedback as it helps my poor over worked brain immensely.

The "Rock speaker no Jutsu" pours the users red chakra into the surrounding rocks and if possible nearby fire. The point is two fold. One, it allows the user to feel and sense his surroundings by what affects the rock or fire. Example, one could sense an enemy behind them undetectable to ordinary senses by feeling the foot steps on the rocks. The other and more important use is that all things have their own naturally occurring chakra, and this chakra can be added to the users as they draw it back to them selves giving them a temporary surplus of red chakra for use in more complex or taxing red jutsu's.


	4. Chapter 4

The revelation of crossover is in my reviews but as of yet all theories of colors are WRONG!

Don't own so don't sue me.

On with the show

* * *

The old man was tired.

Being Hokage wasn't an easy gig. You had to organize nearly everything in the village from children to young for even school to the elderly, and from the unemployed to the highest level of jonins. It was all very tiring. But as the third sat behind hid desk during one of his rare free mornings, he couldn't think of anything more rewarding. In the eyes of many he was like an adopted grandfather to the whole village. So when he had seen how people had treated Naruto, he had nearly gone into a rage and punished them for their ignorance. But he was a smart man and knew that ignorance was no crime and that if he'd done that he'd have had a revolt on his hands and he couldn't afford that. He'd punished any that broke the village rules but other then that he'd not been able to do more then comfort the boy.

It was a real shock when they found the plot on the part of Mizuke. Of coarse it wasn't Naruto's fault, he'd been deceived by the treacherous chunin, but the rest of the village wouldn't see it that way. They would see the fox demon, which had caused them so much pain, with a scroll of forbidden techniques and automatically jump to the conclusion that he was either trying to break the seal or that he was after revenge.

The Hokage doubted this very much as it was almost impossible for any Nin to use the techniques in that particular scroll. It involved a complex meditation technique that separated chakra somehow but no one was sure exactly how because even the best scholars had yet to translate more then the first half of the first paragraph. The characters were unlike anything anyone in the elemental countries had ever seen.

The Hokage had no doubt that Naruto would return the scroll as soon as he found out he couldn't read it and then the village could get back to normal and Mizuke could be interrogated as to why he had wanted it. For the sake of appearances however, he'd had to send out hunter Nins to retrieve Naruto and the scroll. He personally was more worried about Naruto hurting himself then him doing anything to harm the village, but it had cost a large sum to get that scroll and he wanted to at least be able to read it before he lost it or it was stolen.

* * *

Naruto was amazed. No that wasn't it, he was beyond amazed, he was absolutely astounded. Had he not been nearly eighty feet in the air he'd have been floored but here he was leaping from village building to village building like a grasshopper on blades of grass. The fact that he could leap from building to building wasn't what amazed Naruto and terrified his internal occupant, but the sheer height and distance of his leaps. He was effectively leaping from district to district. Covering whole clan grounds and more in a single step of his foot.

'I'm not sure if you noticed or not,' sounded a very timid Kyubi, 'but I'm not exactly comfortable with this!'

'What's up?' questioned Naruto, 'I thought you liked heights.'

'Heights aren't the problem.' She periled now with a more irritated voice.

'Then what's up Kyubi-chan?'

'YOU!' came a near defining response. 'Have you not noticed your newfound ability to leap nearly ten times what any human has a right to? How are you doing this?'

'I honestly don't know.' Replied Naruto flatly, 'I just seem to float from the lightest jump.'

'Well are you using any of those new techniques?' questioned Kyubi

Naruto, feeling rather foolish looked into his chakra pool to see if there was anything going on. He was quite surprised when he did by all the activity in there. Right before he would land, his feet would push out a small burst of white chakra. This made the landing light and easy. Once his foot touched down a small seal was formed with both blue and green chakra to keep him from slipping dew to his forward momentum. When he went to take off, black chakra filled his leg muscles but wasn't consumed in any way. Then he saw why. The black chakra shielded and coated his chakra pathways for the veritable flood of red chakra that rushed down his legs and out his feet breaking the seal and sending him soaring back into the air to repeat the process all over again.

'Whoa,' thought Naruto and Kyubi together having both watched the process.

'Well that explains that' thought Kyubi. Just as she thought it she felt a burst of mischief from her companion. 'What are you planning Naru…!' came out of her mouth before with a massive and obviously conscious wave of red chakra sent them to the highest and farthest leap yet taking them way atop the village. Kyubi had time to marvel at the site beneath her for about half a second before screaming at the top of her mental lungs.Naruto started screaming as well but not in fear but in the shear joy of such a feeling of flight and total freedom of weightlessness.

* * *

Far below, people walking in the streets had to pause and look around for as he descended his cry's of joy and exhilaration were hear throughout the entire village of Hidden Leaf, and by one bewildered Hokage right before the young and thoroughly exited young boy came right through the window holding a massive scroll and wearing one of the brightest smiles the old man had ever seen on his face.

"Hey Old man, how're you doing?" Naruto asked casually walking over to one of the chairs and sitting down as if nothing unordinary had happened. He was so calm and generally serene that it had taken the Hokage a minute to pick his jaw up off the floor and get into a better position from which to scold the boy. Seeing the shift, Naruto decided to head the old man off.

"I want you to train me," He stated simply, causing the third to lose track of his thoughts and his argument.

"What?" asked the bewildered old man.

"I want you to train me," the boy repeated. "I figure since you're the best ninja in town, and that it's your scroll you'd be the best to ask for help with it."

The Hokage sighed and looked down at the boy in front of him. This could be difficult. The boy was convinced that one had to be the absolute best and most powerful to reach Hokage status and thus had to know everything. It would be hard but he had to explain to Naruto why in this case it wasn't possible for him to help.

"I'm sorry Naruto but I really can't help you."

"Why not?" asked a Naruto uncomprehendingly

"No one in the village can read that scroll," said the Hokage tiredly.

"What? Is there some kind of law against it?" questioned Naruto even more confused and slightly worried. People gave him enough trouble already, if he had broken so village wide law it would be eve worse. Maybe taking the scroll had been a bad idea.

"Not really, no need for one," replied an even more tired sounding Hokage.

"What? Now your just not making sense," Said Naruto.

"Did you even open the scroll?" asked an incredulous Hokage.

"Of coarse I did," replied Naruto. "And I read up on separating my chakra and I studied all the red jutsus starting from the most simple to the more advanced ones and I can do pretty well…and…Why are you looking at me like that?"

The last question was asked because by the time Naruto had gotten to that point in his speech the Hokage had his jaw resting on his desk and his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"You… read the scroll?"

Naruto nodded somewhat worried at the look on the old man's face

"You…**read** the scroll? And you **understood** it?" asked the Hokage, even more shocked then before.

"Yeah" replied Naruto. "Should I not have?" he asked looking genuinely like he didn't know if it was a good or bad thing.

"Naruto, that scroll is in a language so ancient and so foreign that none of our scholars have been able to translate more then half of the first paragraph!" shouted the Hokage.

Now it was Naruto's turn to pick up his jaw from the floor. "What do you mean?" he asked now in total shock. "It seemed perfectly normal to me,"

"Naruto is this a joke? Because if it is then I'm giving you only this one chance to back out of it. I'll ask again, you can read AND understand this scroll? Be absolutely sure before you answer."

Naruto took the scroll and unfolded it in his lap, and began to read. Now that he looked for it, the characters were all different from normal Japanese. The characters were loopier and seemed to flow together, but all this made them no more difficult to read for him. The words and pronunciation were not really taken into account by the young boy so when he simply started to read through the scroll's opening warning out loud he was speaking in a totally foreign tongue.

Hearing the young boy in front of him start to spout near gibberish like it was a totally normal passage had the Hokage in shock. Not only did he hear the inflection and repeated words that told him the blond wasn't making it up, but he also watched the boy's eyes trailing along the page.

"Looks the same as it did last night," proclaimed a now proud Naruto.

At the boy's proclamation, the Hokage did the only thing his mind allowed him to do at the time. He passed out and fell straight to the carpet. He never hit though. With his new speed and agility, Naruto had vaulted onto the desk and caught the Hokage before he'd hit the ground.

Just as he laid the Hokage down gently on the floor, Iruka burst into the office.

"I know it's not my place Hokage-sama, but I must insist that you let Uzumaki Naruto re take the genin exams!" he exclaimed. Then he looked down and saw Naruto helping an unconscious Hokage to the floor. He blinked and stared at Naruto. Naruto blinked and stared at Iruka. A moment of silence.

* * *

A half hour and long explanation later Iruka and Naruto sat in the Hokage's office waiting for the aged man to wake up.

As if on some unspoken cue, both looked down at the Hokage and back to each other. Losing what little patience he had, Naruto jumped down to the floor and lightly slapped the face of the Hokage, much to the indignation of Iruka, but still having the desired effect and wakening the Hokage. After a talk and several explanations, Naruto had come clean and spilled the whole story of Kyubi-chan from his age of three, his reasons for failing and running from the genin exam, the plan by Mizuke, the actual act of theft, and the overnight reading and training in the scroll.

Prompted by Naruto's honesty, the Hokage had explained about the demon.

This had caused Naruto to be the one to feint.

* * *

Inside Naruto's mind, he went to confronted Kyubi-chan, only to find her in tears. Seeing her broken and crying like that Naruto felt his anger and indignation melt away.

"I only have one question. Did you know?" he asked with as hard a face as he could manage.

"NO!" she wailed, tears flowing freely. "Naruto-kun I swear I never knew!"

"Alright then," that said Naruto walked right to the edge of the bars, reached into her cell to wipe a tear from her cheek, and smiled.

"Your not mad at me? Or scared?" asked a still tearful Kyubi.

"Of coarse not. You didn't know and no matter what you are, you still my friend and you always will be," he said confidently wile sporting their trademark fox like grin. "Your still my Kyubi-chan and I'll be damned if I'll let anyone mess with you, so why would I let myself?"

Kyubi blushed at the 'my Kyubi-chan' remark but quickly hid it behind her own counterpart to his grin. Grinning together, like a pair of madmen, Naruto faded from her sight.She found herself back in his head, confidant that they were still friends. She couldn't have been happier. Being a demon wasn't enough to break their friendship, so she was sure that they could go through anything and still be friends.

Naruto woke again in the Hokage's office and smiled. After his explanation of everything the Hokage had agreed to help teach him in the scroll.

"He'll have to do that in his spare time," said Iruka fiddling with his forehead protector. "You've defiantly proven that you're worth being a ninja so I've decided to pass you. Close your eyes Naruto."

Naruto closed his eyes, practically humming with excitement. A moment of ruffling later he felt something pressed against his forehead, and Iruka told him to open his eyes. When he did he saw that Iruka was no longer wearing his forehead protector and to his amazement that item was pressed to his own forehead. He stared at Iruka in awe.

"Naruto, with this forehead protector you are officially a Hidden Leaf shinobi. Make us proud," said a proudly beaming Iruka.

Naruto flung himself across the room and into his sensei's arms. "THANK YOU! You won't regret it I promis. I'll be the best ninja ever! I'll make everyone proud!" cried a happily sobbing Naruto. Even as tears of joy spilled down his face, Kyubi made a vow then and there that she would do her absolute best to make sure that he would make it through and would help him as much as she could to reach his goal.

* * *

A.N.: so how was that? Sappy, I know but I really needed to get the whole demon thing out in the open and somehow make Naruto a genin in time for the team selection. I'm wondering about the whole team selection though. He already has the rivalry with Sasuke, and I don't like Sakura enough to give her as big a role as in the manga, so should I keep the teams the same or not? If not then tell me who you'd like Naruto to team up with.

Sorry for taking so long to update but I'm totally taken in with this great book and I've got school so I'm not getting as much free time but mostly I'm just not really big with bran new ideas so this is it for now, and I'll try to update sooner

Ja Ne


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot of this story. Don't sue me.

Sorry for this lateness of this update but I had the hardest time thinking up who to put into what team and then I had writers block, and then the library got in a bunch of manga that I had to read.

Now on with the story.

* * *

Naruto woke up in a slight daze. He was an official genin, could read something no one else could even hope to understand like he was born to, and he new techniques that no one had even seen in at least a hundred years. He began to wonder if it was all just some great dream until he saw the slightly worn and scratched up forehead protector on his dresser.

He smiled at his reflection and bounced out of bed with even more energy then usual. This would normally have thrown a foot or so into the air before he came down on the floor for his morning routine of a shower, washing his face, having a breakfast of ramen, and then brushing his teeth. But he had forgotten that after his reading of the scroll and separation of his chakra, he was far from normal when it came to physical energy output. He flung himself into the ceiling and bounced right down onto the floor so hard that his forehead protector was knocked into the air to land on the back of his head. Reminding himself to take it a little easier with the over exuberance today he got up and moved to the bathroom.

'I'm having my shower now' he thought to Kyubi, putting up a mental barrier.

'Hey! I'm not going to look!' said Kyubi, in her now well known part of the morning routine. Once at the age of five she had paid a little bit too much attention to Naruto in the shower and asked a few…intimate…questions. Ever since then Naruto had been sure to put up as foggy a mental maze as he could during his showers.

'Sure you wont' came Naruto's expected reply. 'But I think I'll leave you to yourself and it will work better'

Kyubi always lost the argument but was sure to play her part every day. At first out of concern that Naruto thought she did it intentionally, and then later, trying to get a peek. She never told Naruto but over the years she had been with him she had realized that she liked him as more then a good friend and after Naruto had heard some girls talking about their boyfriends she had realized that that was the kind of relationship she wanted with Naruto.

After his shower, Naruto got dressed and washed his face before letting the mental maze drop. He didn't have the focus to use the maze in his head while doing something overly complicated like a jutsu –much to his dismay, Kyubi raged on him so much for the sexy no jutsu- but it worked fine for bathing and getting dressed –much to Kyubi's dismay-.

After his standard meal and brushing his teeth, Naruto picked up hi goggles and started toward the door, when Kyubi stopped him.

'Don't you think your forgetting something?'

Feeling rather foolish, Naruto put his goggles back on his dresser and picked up his forehead protector. With a slight bounce in his step and a chuckle, he tied it in place and walked out the door toward the ninja academy.

* * *

When he arrived, the class was nearly packed. He looked and looked but couldn't seem to find a seat accept the two near Sasuke, and he was not going to sit next to that jerk, but if there was really nowhere else to sit, he'd have to. He'd just have to move down the bench as far as he could.

'Grrrr. Stupid jerk. I'll bet he planed this so he could gloat about me not passing but I'll show him'

'Hey calm down,' replied Kyubi in a calming voice. 'Just think about it, your about to become a ninja. You cause trouble now and they might hold you back. Just wait, and I bet you'll never have to deal with Sasuke again.'

'Your right, I know,' replied Naruto. 'But I'd just really rather not sit by him.'

Just as Naruto was about to give up and sit by Sasuke, the only classmate that was nice to him noticed him. Consequently, this classmate was the one Kyubi had the biggest problem with.

* * *

Hinata sat in class looking for Naruto. She had looked up to him for a long time and had a bit of a crush on him, so she was the first to notice when he walked in. 'He wont notice me, he's looking for a place to sit. He'll probably sit next to that Sasuke boy. He doesn't seem to like the idea, maybe if I offered him a seat,' she thought. Suddenly, in a burst of uncharacteristic courage, she moved over on her bench enough for him to sit and turned to catch his eye.

* * *

Naruto gave a final sweep of the class and found that Hinata had moved over enough for him to sit. Sure she was dark and a little strange, but she had always been nice to him. She wasn't exactly a friend because whenever he tried to ask her about herself or about generally anything, she blushed, stammered, and ran off. This weirded Naruto out a bit but she never made fun of him and always seemed to look on him as he saw other people look at Sasuke, instead of the cold stares he got from everyone else. Glad that he might not have to sit next to Sasuke, he moved over and placed his coat on the edge of the bench and turned to Hinata.

"Is this seat taken?" asked Naruto silently praying that it wasn't while in the back of his head, Kyubi was secretly praying it was. It was obvious to Kyubi that the girl had a crush on Naruto, but he was hers damn it!

"No," said Hinata in a voice barely above a whisper and shakier then an old rope bridge. She bowed her head in an attempt to hide a blush, but Naruto being as clueless as he was took it as something else.

"If you don't want me to sit here it's ok." Said Naruto, scared that he'd somehow offended her. "I can always find someplace else to sit if you don't want me to sit here."

"No no. Pleas, sit." Said Hinata in a strangely high pitched worried voice. In truth she was terrified that Naruto didn't want to sit near her and was only doing it because he was to nice to tell her that he didn't want to sit with her, but her fears where eradicated along with most of her mental process as he flashed her that large fox grin of his and sat down.

"Thanks Hinata-chan! I was worried that I'd have to sit next to Sasuke." he smiled as he sat.

"It's alright. I'm glad you graduated." She replied without looking up. She couldn't bring herself to look at that fox grin without the whole room going into the background and her face turning even redder then it was now. She could hardly pay attention when Iruka walked in. Naruto on the other hand was 100 focused on his teacher at the head of the class.

"Congratulations graduates," spoke Iruka. "From this day forward, you are shinobi of Konoha. Wear your forehead protectors with pride. You are now of the ninja rank genin, and for further training and mission taking, you will be split into three person teams, and assigned a jonin instructor."

'Three man teams?' thought Naruto. 'I'm ok with anyone as long as I'm not with Sasuke!'

'Just don't let him be with Hinata, Just don't let him be with Hinata, Just don't let him be with Hinata!' thought Kyubi.

'I hope I'm with Naruto' thought Hinata.

"Team 10" announced Iruka. "Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, and Hinata Hyuga." He went on to announce the other teams but they went mostly unnoticed by the members of squad 10.

Naruto was rejoicing inwardly and dancing outwardly at not being pt in the same squad as Sasuke. Hinata was silently celebrating being put on the same squad as Naruto. Kyubi was pouting and whining in a corner and plotting ways to keep Naruto and Hinata from going out. Shikamaru was just to lazy to listen after his squad had been called.

"You kids stay here for the rest of the afternoon and your jonin instructors will pick you up sometime after lunch so don't come back late!" dismissed Iruka.

"All right!" cried Naruto, leaping out of his seat and consequently leaping all the way to the ceiling and across the entire classroom into the wall above the blackboard.

"Oh, Ow! That hurt!" Naruto said in a slight daze from the impact.

'Hey hey hey! Keep the astounding physical abilities to a minimum will you?' scolded Kyubi. 'The Hokage told you to keep your new powers a secret or else too many people will ask hard questions!'

Naruto scratched his head in embarrassment. "Heh heh…" 'Guess I just don't know my own strength'

* * *

Sasuke was absolutely shocked to see that Naruto had shown up and even more so that he'd graduated, but this was just insane. Ninja's jumping from tree to tree could pretty easily make a twenty-foot leap and land quite well and pull it off many times in a row. But Naruto had just made a thirty-foot long, eighteen-foot high, leap from a sitting position and slammed into the wall. He would have gone at least twice that far had the wall not been there. And then he'd just sat up from the impact as if it was nothing. How had the drop out dead last loudmouth weakling Naruto pull off a leap like that and shrug off an impact like that without a scratch?

'That's impossible! How did that brat get that strong in one night? It must have been some kind of fluke.' Thought Sasuke in disbelief. Though he showed no real outward interest in Naruto, after that he spent the rest of the morning watching him to see if it really was a fluke.

* * *

After nearly and hour the kids were released to go out for lunch, and Naruto was quick to head to his favorite rammen stand. Unbeknownst to Naruto he was being covertly followed. Until he extended his thoughts to the rocks around him with the "Rock speaker no jutsu". He felt a pair of small feet following him rather closely and sloppily but what caught his attention was another pair of feet following at a bit more distance and doing a very good job of keeping a steady distance from his without really revealing their whereabouts. He was about to cancel the jutsu when he felt a few tiny weights fall from a completely different location. Leaves. Someone else was following from the trees. Why where so many people following him all of the sudden. From the sloppy stile and tiny feet he could guess that the close one was a small child, the one following him from a stepped lightly and had small feet as well but the level of experience that suggested at least a ninja so it was likely a girl his age. The one in the tree was a total mystery though.

'Guess all I can do is prepare and then face them at a point where I can get them all to stop following me or come out into the open' he thought to himself with a little grin 'Hey Kyubi-chan? Would you like to take a walk through the park?'

'Why Naruto I'm flattered you'd ask and yes I think it's a marvelous idea.' Replied Kyubi. ' Perhaps your stalkers would join us for a little game of tag?'

Sporting identical feral fox like grins, Naruto walked toward the park while he and Kyubi ploted the best way to lose his extra shadows.

A.N. so how was that? Can anyone pleas pleas tell me the name of Hinata's jonin instructor? I know it's the girl, and that she has red eye's but I need a name. So anyway what do you think of Sasuke's jealousy and Kyubi's insecurity? I got a lot of requests for the Hinata, Shikamaru, Naruto team and it seems like a good set up for me where Hinata is the scout and close range, Naruto is the long range and the power and Shikamaru is of coarse the brains.

Next time we find out who's all following Naruto and his plans to deal with them.

Ja Ne!


	6. Chapter 6

Little note: from now on techniques learned from the scroll aren't going to have the ending "no jutsu". His techniques will only have the name I give then (as taken from sorce)

Disclaimer: an act or statement that demounts a lack of ownership. For further details see earlier chapters.

* * *

"Kurenai?" questioned the third Hokage, "you know of Uzumaki Naruto, correct?"

"The Kyubi vessel?" questioned Kurenai, "yes I know him. Not personally but he has quite the reputation as a troublemaker. Why do you ask Hokage-sama?"

The Hokage smiled his warmest smile at her. "You have already answered my question before I could ask it. That seems to be a trend of late." He smiled and looked as if he was reviewing a fond memory. "And you're right, he is a bit of a troublemaker isn't he?"

"Meaning no disrespect Hokage-sama, but you haven't answered my question yet, and what question were you about to ask?" asked the more then slightly puzzled jonin.

"Simple Kurenai-chan, I was going to ask how you saw Naruto but you answered that when you referred to him as the Kyubi's vessel instead of the Kyubi itself. As to the answered to your question, I wanted to know if my choice to put him and his team with you was the best choice. You have demonstrated no bias toward Shikamaru for his attitude, nor Hinata and Naruto for their backgrounds. This in my opinion makes you the best choice for the jonin instructor for team ten." Explained the still smiling Hokage.

"REALLY!" cried an overjoyed Kurenai. " I'll really get my own team to teach? I'll get to instruct and train them?"

"Yes Kurenai-chan." Said the Hokage. "You have shown yourself to be a very capable jonin and I feel that you are responsible enough to take on your own three genin cell."

With a triumphant leap of joy Kurenai leapt from her seat and raced off to the academy.

* * *

Naruto walked calmly into the middle of the park and felt around with the "Rock speaker". The young kid following him had been sloppy and he knew now that it was Konohamaru, grandson of the Third. The girl further back was doing an excellent job. It was almost as though she could see through walls, which lead him to believe it was Hinata.

'But I just don't get why she would follow me,' asked Naruto in a somewhat whiney mental voice. 'who could it be if not her though?'

'You really are clueless aren't you?' replied Kyubi.

'What do you mean Kyubi-chan?'

'Uh-oh… I really should have guarded that thought!' thought Kyubi privately. 'If I tell him she likes him he might try and date her and I wont have that! But now he's curious and I can't just not tell him anything. Ohh I hate doing this but…'

'If you can't figure it out on your own then I'm not going to help you' Kyubi replied to Naruto in a slightly smug sounding voice.

'Aww, pleas? Pretty pleas with a cherry on top?' asked Naruto in his most innocent little kid voice.

'No' came Kyubi's blunt reply.

'Will you still help me out with the plan though?'

'Of coarse I will. I did help think it up and I defiantly want to find out who tree stalker is.' She privately added 'if it's a girl I'll mutilate her' with a murderous look in her eye.

As Naruto came to the center of the park he pinpointed all three of his would be stalkers on the east side of the park with him headed west. 'Perfect' he thought to him self 'you ready?'

'Already waiting for you" replied Kyubi cheekily.

And as if the starting pistol had just gone off Naruto took off towards the other end of the park. The speed he was moving at would have made most of the Anbu guard jealous. And it had the exact effect he had wanted. Konohamaru jumped out from behind a mailbox and tripped on his own scarf, taking him well out of the game. Hinata ran around the corner she had been hiding behind and started to walk as fast as she could towards the park without looking too suspicious. But the true purpose of his little sprint came with a satisfying thwack as someone leapt from their perch on the tree branch to the ground.

'Now!' thought Naruto. 'Gather red chakra into my foot and…' With a deep inhale and a short stop, Naruto raised his right leg at the knee and screamed "Crack The Earth!" and brought his foot down. The effect was as swift as it was devastating. With that single stomp he had caused several radial cracks and three incredibly large trenches. The three trenches ran from his foot towards his target, being a very confused looking Sasuke. With no time to react, the trenches swept the so called "genius ninja" off his feet and into the center where all three had met to form a good-sized crater.

* * *

Naruto calmly walked up to the edge of the crater, and looked in at the dazed, but recovering Sasuke.

"Why are you following me?" Naruto asked in a demanding voice

"How did you do that?" asked Sasuke in an annoyed tone, completely ignoring Naruto's question.

"Well it's actually pretty advanced. You know, upper level stuff, so I'm not all that surprised you wouldn't know" said a very smug Naruto, greatly enjoying lording over Sasuke. "but as fun as this has been, and for me it really has, I want to go get my lunch so I can be back on time for our teams assigned jonin instructor." Naruto turned and started to walk off when he saw that Sasuke wasn't about to let it end there.

"Tell me how you did that!" said an angered Sasuke whilst pulling a kunai from his pouch

"I'm sorry, but as much as I'd really love to show you who's the better ninja, I really have to get out of here so I can have my lunch" he said turning back. 'Hey Kyubi, I know you told me to tone it down but can we just jump straight to Ichiraku's ramen stand? I'll take it in not so huge jumps just big enough that they won't follow me anymore.'

Normally Kyubi would have protested. After all, the Hokage had told them to keep it on a low profile but as Naruto had turned away from Sasuke, she had seen Hinata. The girl had a look of pure admiration on her face and had been inching her way closer ever since he had started to run. 'Sure, let's get out of here but try to keep it from getting the old man mad at us' she said.

'Yahoo!' thought Naruto. He quite enjoyed the feeling of flying through the air. But while he was internally rejoicing, he was calm and smug on the outside and he said to Sasuke, "I don't have time to play with you, maybe some other time." And with that, he was gone.

* * *

He saw the process in his mind and played it out. First black to line the pathways, then red for the leap, then white for the cushion, then blue and green for the hold, then start again. With one great leap he was out of the park and onto the nearest rooftop at nearly eighty feet away. Sasuke couldn't even follow his movement it was so fast and the leap carried him out of Hinata's range.

The two who had been so steadfastly following him both hung their heads in defeat, though for entirely different reasons, and walked back towards the academy. Sasuke was upset that not only had he failed to find out how Naruto had done the leaps and that crazy stomp thing, he'd been beaten in one move by the dead last of the year, the one he'd called useless in his head many times. Hinata on the other hand was sad that she hadn't seen where he'd gone for his lunch. If she could find out what he liked to eat then maybe she could try to meat him there or even work up the courage to ask him there.

* * *

The blond in question was currently enjoying his favorite pass time. Eating ramen. He was enjoying his self beyond belief. Not only was he eating at Ichiraku's on a school day, not only had he passed and become a shinobi, but he had actually beaten Sasuke. In one move no less.

Kyubi on the other hand didn't like this day as much. Not only was Naruto forced to spend time with Hinata, which could lead to them liking each other or worse dating each other, but it seemed from the blatant flirting of Ayame, the ramen waitress, and the less hurtful more appreciative glances he was getting from girls his age, that the new physique he had gotten from the splitting of his chakra hadn't gone as unnoticed as she had hoped it would. He had remained blissfully unaware, but Kyubi had noticed right away. His chest was more defined, his arms were more muscular but not to the point that they became bulky, they were sleek like a swimmer's, as well as his legs. In short he looked not half bad for a ninja of his age and apparently it had an affect on other girls as well as her.

Naruto looked up from his ramen at yet another funny glance from a girl passing down the street. He was about to go back to his ramen when he noticed the clock. He had five minutes to get back to class on what would normally be a fifteen-minute walk. He dropped the money for his meal on the counter and to all but himself and Kyubi, vanished into thin air leaving not a trace.

* * *

Naruto arrived back at the academy with a minute and thirty seconds to spare and sat down next to Hinata again. Hinata looked at Naruto for a second and looked like she was about to say something when Iruka interrupted her.

"The jonin instructors have arrived. When your cell is called, you will stand and follow your instructor out. Starting with cell ten, Yuuhi Kurenai"

With those words, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Naruto walked out following the red-eyed jonin.

"Well," said Kurenai, "I guess we'll get to the introductions, meet me at the large oak in training ground ten" and with that she vanished in a puff of smoke.

* * *

A.N.: I know cliffy ending. And it's becoming something of a trend with me. Sorry for taking so long, but this chapter was originally supposed to go all the way through the "Real" genin exam, but then I just couldn't think of a good way for her to test them so if it's a little short that's why (damn you writers block!)

Thanks so much too all of you who review my story, it's a real confidence booster, and helps me come up with ideas. And a special thanks to a few of you who have somehow found the time to review every chapter so far, you guys are just great.

Crack the earth: using red chakra gathered from the rock speaker, this technique combines three elements. First a powerful stomp that causes a mild earthquake to separate the earth, a chakra explosion underground to create enough space for the collapse of the upper levels of earth, and a chakra wave to direct it towards your opponent. It can be used as a direct attack but serves as more of a confusion and set up technique for more powerful techniques, it requires a lot of red chakra so that it can form all three steps and is advised to use after a rock speaker, but because of the sheer amount Naruto can use this as a time buying technique so he can use rock speaker to gain even more chakra.

The gray spire is all colors mixed together, or just regular chakra. I've gotten a lot of questions about it and I apologize for not making it clearer.

Ja Ne


	7. Chapter 7

I'm back with a vengeance after my time away from writing. I apologize for the lateness of this up date but now…oh wait, for the disclaimer see the earlier chapters.

NOW, on with the story.

* * *

Naruto made his way leisurely toward the training ground. Hinata and Shikamaru walked along beside him but with different views on the current situation. For them, it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with Naruto.

"Hey! Naruto!" half yelled Shikamaru with an annoyed tone in his voice. "Slow up would you? The pace your setting is too troublesome, why are you so exited anyway?"

"Huh? Oh sorry!" said Naruto sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Guess I just got caught up in the excitement." Naruto slowed down substantially and joined his new teammates. He looked at Shikamaru with an apologetic grin. He turned back forward and re started his trek towards the arranged meeting place. They kept the pace slow and leisurely, by Shikamaru's standards but because of Naruto's impromptu speed race, they arrived at the large oak tree by themselves.

"Hmmm, oh how troublesome," said a bored Shikamaru. "Now we have to wait here for her."

"You know, we don't really know each other that well for us to suddenly be a team," puzzled Naruto. "I wonder why the old mad put us together?"

"Does it really make a difference?" sighed Shikamaru. "I mean, how troublesome, why does it bug you to be on this team? Everyone likely got at least one person that they didn't like or know."

"Hmm. Yeah your right, I just though that our teams might have, like some form of specialization." said Naruto.

"Um." Said Hinata so quietly that they almost didn't hear her. "Maybe…m-maybe they w-wanted a general team?"

"Hey your right! Maybe they made us a team that has people who are good in every aspect of ninja life between us." Said Naruto in an over developed thinking pose with his hand on his chin. "It does make sense. Great thinking Hinata-chan!"

Hinata stared at Naruto in shock, and then blushed a color of red that Naruto had never seen on a human face. To the rest of the world she looked greatly embarrassed but to Naruto she almost looked sick.

"Hey, are you alright Hinata?" asked Naruto looking at her as if trying to find a wound or sign of sickness. At the close inspection, Hinata turned away and tried to hide her entire head under the forehead protector she wore around her neck.

"I-I'm o-ok N-N-Naruto-kun" Hinata stuttered out of embarrassment. Inwardly she was dancing about with joy. 'He thinks I'm a great thinker!' she said in her mind. Her inner Hinata was currently dancing away under two banners that read "Hinata-CHAN" and "Great thinker".

Suddenly, a little two suddenly for Hinata as it interrupted her inner celebration; Kurenai appeared. It was also to soon for Shikamaru as it interrupted his cloud watching time. Naruto couldn't have been happier and neither could Kyubi. His instructor there meant that he could finally start to be a ninja, which made him happy. His instructor being there also meant he was distracted from his conversation with Hinata, which made Kyubi ecstatic. 

"Wow, I didn't expect you guy's to beat me here," said an extremely impressed Kurenai. "You guy's must be really fast! Wait, I'm getting off track already, sorry if I'm a little scatterbrained but this is my first time being allowed to teach my own genin cell. Anyways, lets get the introductions out of the way shall we?"

There was a moment of stunned silence. Not only had their teacher come out of nowhere, she had spoken so quickly and with such enthusiasm that her word were hard to make out. Once the three new genins got around what it was she had actually said they seemed to go into their own first impressions. Naruto felt himself swell up with pride at the thought that an elite jonin was impressed by his speed, Hinata blushed at the though of the praise but then remembered how it was Naruto who had been the fast one. Shikamaru looked slightly annoyed at how hyperactive she seemed and was dreading having to put up with her. 'Standard bossy troublesome women, should have known' he thought.

"So," questioned Naruto. "How should we introduce our selves? Why don't you start so we can get an idea of what to do?" said Naruto looking to gain as much knowledge about his new instructor as he could.

"OH! That's right, you guy's still don't know me. Sorry about that" Kurenai said while slapping a palm to her forehead, upset by her own forgetfulness. "My names Yuuhi Kurenai, I'm a genjutsu specialist and I've been a jonin for six years now. I'm twenty-six, my eyes are naturally red, I like people who try to do their best and I dislike people who dislike someone because of their past. So you all get a clean slate with me. Now, it's your turn. Lets start with you," she looked down at a clipboard, "Nara Shikamaru".

"How troublesome," mumbled Shikamaru as he sat up from watching his clouds, "you already know my name, my age and my rank, I like strategy games like shogi or go. I like to rest and look at the clouds. That's about all you need to know about me."

Kurenai looked slightly downcast at the response. "Ok then. That was… informative. How about you," she looked down at her clipboard again, "Hyuga Hinata"

Hinata blushed again and when she finally spoke it was barely above a whisper. "My name is Hyuga Hinata, I've been a genin for almost a full day, I like medical jutsus and helping people who need it, as well as…" she trailed off and looked at Naruto.

Kurenai caught the glance and smiled slyly, 'Hmmm, maybe I could set those two up' "thank you Hinata. Now how about…"

Before she had time to say any more, Naruto jumped up onto the log he'd been using as a bench and struck a 'heroic' pose. In his loudest voice below a yell, he proudly exclaimed, "I am Uzumaki Naruto! I am a proud genin of Konoha. I like ramen and people who are honest to their word. I dream to become a great ninja and take the Hokage name to gain acknowledgement from every one and to surpass all previous Hokages!"

Kurenai couldn't help but giggle at his enthusiasm. He acted almost like Jiraya, of the legendary three sennin. Hinata giggled as well but so quiet and hidden away under her forehead protector and the turned shoulder of her jacket that none of the others noticed. But though none of the three noticed, Kyubi did. Kyubi would have been laughing along with everyone else, if it weren't for Hinata. She honestly had nothing against the overly shy girl and would love for her to come out of her shell, but she could no more deny her feelings for Naruto then she could bend the bars of her cell. But then, how could she tell him. If she told Naruto that she loved him, he'd either think of her as a sister, or their relationship would become strained because she was in his head. If she could get out on her own, find her own body, then she could tell him and hopefully they could lead a happy life together but if she couldn't, then he would never look at her the same. He would either try to love her and ruin his own life or stop talking to her, provided he didn't class her as immediately a sibling. That was the last thing she wanted. If she was his sister in his head, she would be his sister out of his head.

"Well then," said Kurenai after finally reining in her giggles and laughter enough to talk respectably. "I guess that's all for to day. But tomorrow is going to be the 'real' test"

"'Real' test, what does that mean?" asked Naruto.

"Well," chuckled Kurenai with a bit of a malicious glint in her eye, "You guys aren't going to like this, but you aren't really genin yet. The first day of our time together is the official genin test, and it has a sixty six percent failure rate."

"WHAT?" coursed by all three genin. Inside Naruto's head, Kyubi joined as well. The combine force of all three yelling but especially Naruto almost knocked Kurenai over.

"Tomorrow, we'll all meet back here, and you'll get the test. Bring all your supplies. I'd advise a big breakfast, but I think you'll more then likely not be able to hold it down." Said Kurenai with more then a hint of a threat buried in her words. "Oh, before I forget." Instantly, the happy forgetful Kurenai they had seen during the introductions was back "Naruto, the Hokage wants to meat you at his office as soon as your done here so you should probably go. See you all here tomorrow at eight thirty sharp. Not a moment later!" with those last words, she was gone in a puff of smoke.

* * *

"Sorry guy's, but you heard her. I got to go see an old man about a scroll, bye!" and with that, he too was gone. The only difference between his departure and Kurenai's was that he left no smoke behind. Kurenai watched from her spot hidden among the trees. 'How did he do that?' she thought. The only other person she had ever even heard of, who was able to disappear like that, was the Yellow Flash, and he was long dead. Plus she had heard that his disappearances left no trace. She had felt an odd chakra surge from Naruto and it left an odd residue behind as well. 'Hmmm, could that have just been pure chakra induced speed?'

* * *

Naruto vaulted straight out of the forest and onto the buildings near by. With a quick scan of his route, he leapt into the air and on his way towards the Hokage building. This would be his first training session with the old man. He had translated the red portion and the meditation technique the night before and was hoping to start on to the white or black sections today, as they were his next most abundant sources and would be more often used then the blue or green.

'Which do you think I should learn first Kyubi-chan?' asked Naruto. He felt kind of bad because he had a hard time talking to her while around other people without them knowing and the old man had said that until he learnt more of the scroll, he probably shouldn't tell his team-mates about Kyubi. 'Black, or white?'

'Well, the old man did say that the red chakra abundance was because of me, so maybe the next best thing to learn would be the next biggest because that's probably what is the most from you.' Said Kyubi. She was glad he had taken the initiative to talk to her. It got so lonely when he was around people and couldn't talk to her. 'That would be white right?' Naruto mentally snickered. 'What? What's funny?' asked Kyubi

'You rhymed.' Laughed Naruto. 'You really couldn't be a demon. What kind of thousand's of years old demon would make a stupid rhyme like that?'

'That's what assures you I'm not a demon?' asked Kyubi. She looked over the situation and began her own mental chuckle. 'You know, when you lay it out like that it makes perfect sense.'

'Yep' said Naruto. There was a moment of mental silence in Naruto's head, then both occupants burst into uproarious laughter. Kyubi sighed in content amid her laughs. Even if she couldn't have a body at the moment, she could live happy with Naruto for moments like this. In times like this when they would joke and laugh and poke fun at the world, both of their troubles would just melt away and they'd be a pair of normal kids. Well, as normal as a twelve-year-old ninja and his demon fox mental roommate could be.

* * *

A.N.: hey all. And give me a pat on the back. A chapter completely devoid of cliffy endings. Ok so it was mostly fluff and mindless filler, but hey at least it has an ending.

Ok, next time on minds alike, Naruto and his new team will go up against their new teacher in a test that will seem familiar but it will still be a little different. I'll probably skip Naruto's training session with the Hokage, and then flash back to it when it's appropriate.

For all those who worry and send me reviews, I can promise right now that this will not be a naru/hina. It is a good pairing but a little over done. I plan on having Naruto become the oblivious target of the affections of many of the village girls, as he doesn't get that enough in the normal series and that stuff is my favorite type of story. It will become a naru/kyu, but due to her current lack of body, it will take a while to properly develop. I might not even have her come out before the chunin exams.

Well, I hope you like my story so far and that you keep reading it.

Ja Ne


	8. Chapter 8

Hey people. I'm sorry that this took such a long time but life has been crazy for the last little while and my fanfic kinda slipped down on the priority ladder.

Not a lot I need to say. Disclaimer is on the earlier chapters.

Now on with the story.

* * *

The sun was barely up when he arrived at the training ground. On the advice of Kyubi, Naruto had decided to wake up early and eat a hearty breakfast before going to the training ground an hour early to get to know the territory. 

'Remind me again why we're doing this Kyubi-chan?' asked a groggy and relatively disoriented Naruto. 'If I'm not well rested I won't be able to fight properly.'

'Three reasons," responded Kyubi. 'One, if you get to know the area before hand, you have a big advantage in almost any situation and we're not even sure what this 'survival test' is about so knowing the battlefield is a good thing to do.'

'I get that, but why can't we get the others and have them know the place as well?' asked Naruto.

'That's the other two reasons.' Replied Kyubi, getting slightly frustrated that Naruto was interrupting her. 'you don't know if their on your side during this test thing, and their not supposed to know about your powers. That brings me to the third reason and the reason that you're here in the morning. The old man said that this was the best time to use the "Sun speaker" so we're here to get you the lay of the land. You're here alone because even if they are on your team, you shouldn't show them everything that you can do. And you're here in the morning because the Hokage said you could use your powers once the mission starts and you might not have time to use the "Sun Speaker" in the heat of battle because you've never used it before.'

'All right all right all right. Fine. We'll get the lay of the land and I'll charge my self up but I still thin we should have brought the others.' Complained Naruto. He really didn't mind the work, but if it was a team effort then wouldn't it be better if they all knew everything about one another? On the other hand, he wasn't supposed to show them his new techniques until the exorcise had started, and he was eager to try it out.

Naruto closed his eye's and lowered him self to the ground. 'First, the lay of the land' he thought as he spread his red chakra into the earth and rocks below him. He felt along every rough spot and bump or dips in a six hundred yard radius around him. The topography mapped itself out in his head. He knew the location of every tree and the exact number in the forest around him. But that just wasn't enough. He knew the location of the tree but not the shape of the branches. He didn't even know what type of tree they were. 'Ok, now comes the new one' thought Naruto as he focused his mind onto his white chakra and bled it into the air around him. He suddenly felt a rush as the chakra was suddenly not in the air, but the sunlight streaming down onto him. Suddenly everything around his showed up in incredible detail. His eye's still closed he could see everything the light touched. The trees, the leaves, the bark, the grass, it was all clear as day to him. It was also an incredible rush. Just like the feeling he got from the "Rock Speaker", he felt connected to a great seemingly endless supply of chakra. However, when he used the rock speaker, there was a feeling of great stability. Nothing could move him and nothing would break him. With the new "Sun Speaker", he felt a great speed of motion and great warmth of comfort. Nothing could catch him and even if it did it wouldn't be able to harm him.

"Wow" he said aloud. "Now I'm starting to get how the all fit together." He remembered how during his training session with the third Hokage he had mentioned something about it.

* * *

(Flash back) 

"Naruto," said the third after copying what Naruto translated of the white section. "From what you've translated so far, I feel that you should not focus too heavily on any one color."

"Why not? Asked Naruto. "I mean, don't most ninja just get good at a couple of things and then leave the rest not as good?"

"Yes, for the beginning of their ninja career's, but then for jonins it is needed to be good at a great many skills." Replied the Hokage in a sage like voice.

"But I have so much more red chakra then anything else." Said Naruto with more then a little annoyance at being treated as a kid. "How can I concentrate on all the colors evenly when I don't have even amounts?"

"From what I can tell, there is one of these speaker jutsus for every colors," explained the Hokage " so the amount of chakra you have of any given color doesn't really matter if you tap into that colors source and use that to boost your own supply."

"Ohhh, so I guess that means I can do any jutsu right?" asked an exited Naruto.

"Not if you don't concentrate on your training you won't." said the Hokage in a stern authoritative voice.

"Yes sir!" shouted Naruto eager to keep up his training.

(End flash back)

* * *

Naruto thought back on the training lesson fondly. He had such an arsenal now that he was already prepared for many situations that he could encounter. 

Just then he felt feet and saw that Hinata was slowly approaching his current location and had just entered his current sphere of knowledge. 'I wonder what time it is he thought' '6:51 am' answered his own voice. He was so shocked that he almost missed Shikamaru entering the training ground and Hinata was starting to get dangerously close. 'I guess that I can feel the time because of the sun,' Naruto thought. Just as he stopped the two techniques and gather up all his chakra along with as much as he could hold of the chakra of the earth and the sun, he felt his new teacher enter his field.

'Guess their all here. Finally' thought Naruto with a huge grin on his face.

Just then, Hinata entered the clearing he was in.

* * *

(Minutes earlier.) 

'It's all going to be ok, just go out and try your best. Oh I hope Naruto is there. I hope he doesn't think I'm just a little shy nuisance.' Thought Hinata as she walked towards the training ground. She looked into the forest with fear and worry evident on her face.

'What if I'm not good enough to become a genin? My father will be so disappointed.' She shook the negative thoughts from her head and walked forward into the forest with as brave a face as she could manage.

* * *

"Hey Hinata-chan" smiled Naruto as she approached the log he was sitting on. "Grab a seat. Looks like we're the first ones here" 

Hinata blushed and sat down. Mustering as much courage as she could she scooted down the long till she was right next to Naruto.

Inside Naruto's head, Kyubi was fuming. She had spent the whole morning with Naruto in her second favorite pastime. She loved to meditate and sit and map surroundings with Naruto because she could fit into near perfect synch with Naruto. The only time she liked more were the few times other then out and out battle with Naruto when he was using his chakra and physical exertion at the same time as talking to her because she would naturally synch with him perfectly. Then this Hinata girl had so come and not only ruin the moment, and thus spoil the morning for her, she had the audacity to come sit right next to Naruto. At this close proximity it would only be a short time before she picked up on the most recent, and in her mind enjoyable, change in Naruto. Since the separation of chakra, he had an improved physique and she wasn't the only one to notice that. But she realized now that the separation itself wasn't the thing responsible, but the training in red. It had given him great strength. The speed she had thought she had seen she realized now came only in the leaps and they were more strength then speed. The training in white had also had a change on him. He was moving faster then normal but what it was that she really liked was the aura. He gave off an aura of warmth and safety that made her feel like nothing wrong could happen to her. She also felt that she should stay near him. To here that was alright because she was in him and could never leave, but to Hinata that impulse might be translated into a need for closeness or even contact with Naruto, and she couldn't and wouldn't allow that.

Just then, Shikamaru entered the clearing at exactly 6:59. He walked lazily over to the same log Naruto and Hinata were sitting on and lay down on the ground using it as a pillow to look up at his clouds.

"Hey Shikamaru" smiled Naruto "how's your morning going?"

"Troublesome. Why do we have to be here so early? That teacher better not be late"

As if on cue, the clocks in the village, and in Naruto's head, struck 7:00 am and their teacher exploded into the middle of the clearing in a puff of smoke. "I'm right here Shikamaru, so you needn't worry about me being tardy" she smiled. "I'm glad that you all thought enough of me to show up on time for our first official day together for this all important genin test. So let's get to the actual test. It's like an information and artifact retrieval mission. You have to get these bells. They will be secured to my waist, and to pass all you need to do is get one. The one who doesn't get a bell will fail and be sent back to the academy for further training and gets another shot next year." She explained in a cheery demeanor. " There's no time limit so take as long as you like but this will e a serious mission so I expect you to come at me with everything you have. Any questions?" she asked.

The three genin looked at her in shock. They had to compete against each other and a jonin for their chance? That just couldn't be fair. Naruto raised his hand.

"Yes Naruto?" asked Kurenai.

"We're aloud what ever we want to get one of the bells? It's no holds bard?"

"Yep" affirmed Kurenai with a quick nod and never losing her cheery smile.

"Then I think it's only fair that I tell my team mates that there are three bells on your belt." Said Naruto. "One is hidden under a genjutsu"

"Wow! You saw that one?" asked a slightly shocked Kurenai. "I thought it would be the Hyuga to notice first for sure. Well I guess that since you passed the first and second parts already I think I should just get rid of the pretence. There are three bells because this exercise is really all about teamwork" smiled Kurenai "I wanted to see if any of you would notice the third bell and if you did would you work as a team when you realized that you could all get a bell. You did so good job for you but you still need to get the bells to pass so I think it's about time we started this test. So lets GO!"

* * *

With the word go, all four people currently standing in the clearing, vanished. The first thing Naruto did was reactivated both his "speaker" techniques and locked onto his two teammates. They were both off to his left and not too far away so he leapt straight to Hinata. 

"Hinata. Stay quiet, and follow me." She nodded and fell into step behind him. He led her quietly through the brush towards Shikamaru. After a minute of walking through the forest quietly to avoid the teacher's gaze, they came to Shikamaru hiding half under and half behind a bush in the perfect position to be able to move to either side of the bush and stay hidden with relative ease.

"Hey, Shikamaru, since we know working as a team is what we should do, how do you think we should do it?"

"You want me to think of how? How troublesome." Sighed Shikamaru; "Well if we get near her then we could pretty well corner her, but first we have to find her. Plus we don't really know what she can do other then she's a genjutsu specialist, which means she could have any number of illusion traps set up around her."

"Well, I can find her." Said Naruto. "plus, can't you see through genjutsus Hinata-chan?"

"Well, I-I-I can k-kind of, it's more l-like I-I see if there's any chakra being used" explained Hinata stuttering quietly

"Hmmm, so you could tell us where the genjutsus are but not necessarily what they would do. Naruto you say you could find her? Well if you can find her then Hinata could find out where all the genjutsus are and help you avoid them, plus the Hyuga gentle fist stile is one of the most deadly stiles of tiajutsu in the village so she could engage Kurenai sensei up close and buy Naruto time to pull off an offensive jutsu to drive her into the trees. if we can get her close enough to the trees then I can use their shadows to elongate my own and trap her, leaving you free to grab the bells."

"All right! That's a great plan Shikamaru!" smiled Naruto. "Kurenai is four hundred feet directly northeast of here on the ground in a well lit clearing."

"How do you know that?" asked Shikamaru.

"I'll tell you when we get the bells," promised Naruto.

With that said, the snuck off into the trees.

* * *

Kurenai sat in the middle of the clearing keeping her eye's pealed. She couldn't go into the forest, because the Nara kid would defiantly have an advantage this early in the morning. There were far too many shadows. Out here she could see his shadow jutsu coming and avoid it with relative ease. The Hyuga would be a force to be reckoned with in close combat, and her genjutsus wouldn't work well on her, but Uzumaki Naruto was the one that scared her. She didn't know anything about what kind of techniques he used other then they were unique to him and incredibly powerful. 

There was a sudden rustling from the trees behind her. She turned and saw Naruto burst from the foliage quickly followed by Hinata and a shadow on the ground racing toward her. Smirking a little she created a genjutsu of a chasm directly where Hinata was about to step. It worked as she had hoped as Naruto stopped to help Hinata and Hinata paused in her advance letting her jump back from the shadow and into a more defendable position. However, she didn't expect Naruto to turn his aid to a teammate into an offensive move as he grabbed her jacket and threw her directly at Kurenai. While Kurenai was unprepared for the move Hinata was obviously expecting it as she turned her path of flight into a roll that brought her directly into striking range. The flurry of blows that followed brought her to the extent of her speed to try and doge them all. She knew better then to try to block a Hyuga gentle fist attack.

* * *

While Hinata carried out her part of the plan, Naruto pooled all his gathered white and red chakra. First white and "Hinata!" he called out. on his signal, she bent at the waist and shot out an upward palm strike leaving the teacher no choice but to jump upward. As she did Naruto brought his hands forward and began a chain of hand seals that none of the others recognized. Not waiting to be attacked, Kurenai drew to kunai. As soon as she did Naruto ended his unnecessary hand seals, having finished the needed four long before and flung his hands forward. "Terashi's Grasp!" he cried. Six long whip-like arms flew from each of his arms and towards the startled Kurenai. 

Seeking to interrupt the now started jutsu, Kurenai loosed her kunai directly at Naruto. Naruto grinned. This was exactly what he had wanted to happen as the arms intercepted the kunai. The kunai and the arm that caught it disintegrated on contact with each other and the other arms encircled a surprised Kurenai. They all disintegrated and Kurenai found herself falling back to the earth weaponless.

As soon as she landed a surprisingly quick Hinata reengaged her in close combat. Without her kunai, she wouldn't be able to attack Naruto again until she could dispose of Hinata. As she tried to think of a way out, Naruto raised his foot and it began to glow. Hinata leapt into the air with a downward strike just as Naruto slammed his foot down with a cry of "Crack the earth!" three trenches flew along the ground and became a large crater under Kurenai just as she ducked Hinata's falling strike. Off balance, Kurenai feel into the crater and was unable to dodge the strike. It hit directly on top of her head and stunned her. Hinata leapt out of the crater just as she was regaining her head when she saw Naruto high above her throwing hand seals like there was no tomorrow. She leapt out in the opposite direction of Hinata and turned just in time to se Naruto spread his arms wide and fling them down at her with a cry of "Curtain of light!". A brilliant flare of light flashed down on her from her and blinded her momentarily. She brought her hands to her face and turned away.

When the light faded she went to look over the clearing to find her opponents only to find that she couldn't move.

"Success." Said Shikamaru in an oddly exited voice for him. "Don't you love it when a plan comes together perfectly?"

Naruto held up the three bells he had grabbed from Kurenai's belt in triumph. "Yep! It sure is a good feeling. Hinata you did great!" he smiled "And you to Shikamaru. Great plan!"

"I-I-It was your jutsus that did the work N-N-Naruto-kun." Said Hinata shyly.

"You all did a great job!" said a beaming Kurenai as Shikamaru released her. "That was amassing! I think you guy's are the best genin in a long time. Probably going to be the best ninjas since the legendary three sennin if you are already this powerful!"

With the three kids and their teach all happily chatting and laughing, the teacher took them all out to a karaoke place for a celebratory lunch as it was now nearing noon and would be by the time they got into town.

* * *

A.N.: so there you have it. The team and their (and my) first real battle scene. Next time they start missions. I think I'm going to give them mostly recon and spy missions as I find writing battles hard, and I think Kurenai would be of more use in an espionage mission then an all out battle like Kakashi. 

"Sun Speaker" it's almost exactly like rock speaker only instead of flowing chakra into the earth, it channels it into nearby light. Used as a sensory technique as well as bringing up white chakra levels.

"Terashi's grasp" sends out six arms of white chakra from each arm that destroys any metal object they encounter, but only of the same type. For example, the first things the arms Naruto used encountered was a kunai so the others sought out all the kunai that Kurenai had and destroyed them.

"Curtain of light." Exactly like it sounds. The white chakra bends all the light in the area so that it shines in one main direction and makes it brighter, resulting in a prolonged flash of super bright light directed at only one area.

Ja Ne


	9. Chapter 9

Sooooooo sorry this took such a long time to come out and I hope you can live with that but life hit an all time high in hectecness and I had to prioritize yet again.

P.S.; I HATE my job.

Ok now that that's out of the way, look for the disclaimer in the first few chapters.

Now, on with the story.

* * *

It had been weeks. Literally. It had been three weeks since the bell test, and the most exiting mission yet was to catch a cat, for the third time. They had; babysat, grocery shopped, weeded gardens, and pruned trees. For three weeks. All of these missions had been good training, gave a decent wage, and were completed easily enough. In short it was a good set up for Shikamaru, and it was great for Hinata because it was safe. Naruto on the other hand was bored out of his mind.

As they walked back toward the Hokage tower with freshly caught cat in tow, Naruto vowed to get the old man to give them a better mission. An exiting mission where he could show how great a ninja he was.

The three students and their teacher Kurenai all walked up in a straight line and bowed to the Hokage then their client the lord of fires wife, as they returned the cat yet again.

"Well done team 10. I have another mission lined up for you tomorrow. Either grocery shopping for the local magistrate, or babysitting…" was all the 'honored' Hokage could get out before Naruto's face filled his vision.

"NO!" screamed the irate short ninja. "No more boring stupid missions, I want something challenging."

Kurenai grabbed Naruto by the scruff of his jacket and slung him into the ground with a look of rage. "Show some respect to the Hokage!"

"Now now, that's alright Kurenai-chan," said the Hokage in his best diplomatic tone. "If Naruto is so deadest on a more challenging mission, then I have just the one for your cell. One of our more… acceptable scrolls has been stolen while on transit. It isn't all that important a scroll and was taken by a group of bandits to a local lords mansion. We believe that he doesn't know what it is and will use it to attempt to blackmail us. As such it is nearly harmless, but in enemy hands, it might lead to the deciphering of our code. I want you to take it back with minimal casualties and as little knowledge of leafs involvement as possible."

"YEAH!" exclaimed a joyous Naruto as he leapt into the air. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Silencing the boy with a stiff backhand that sent him into a wall, Kurenai stepped forward. "Hokage-sama, are you sure this is a good mission for three genin to undertake?" asked a hesitant Kurenai.

"Yes, I think your team is the best for this mission." Stated the Hokage simply. "Hinata's Byakugan and Naruto's newly acquired jutsus will make avoiding the guards simple, and the lords security system is only operable by he himself, making Shikamaru a necessary part as well. Finally, should they be discovered, you can erase the memories of those who shouldn't remember with your genjutsu talents."

"Well alright, but I think it's a bit of a big mission for a genin team." Said a slightly placated Kurenai. "We accept our mission Hokage-sama!"

"Good, you shall meet tomorrow at nine in the morning to leave for your mission. I expect you back no later then midnight on Monday (Currently Friday). Dismissed!"

With that, the three genin and teacher left the room to head back to their own beds to rest for tomorrow. All but one, who left the others and walked back to the back of the building and leapt back up to the window of the room he had just left.

"Ok old man," said Naruto, "Time for the rest of my black training."

* * *

The next day, Naruto woke three hours early at the utmost insistence of Kyubi. She wanted him up and ready for the mission as well as having time to review his new black and white jutsus, and wanted to make sure that he was there first at the meeting place. The need to be first was something Naruto had asked her about but he hadn't gotten an answer yet.

In truth, Kyubi was worried that if he wasn't there first, he might not get there at all. So she had forced him to shower and dress at six am and he was at the meeting place by the west gate by seven thirty after packing and a large breakfast.

'Ok ok ok, I'm here early, what should I practice first?' asked a slightly groggy Naruto.

'Just get used to the "Murk Speaker" for now, we're not supposed to tell them about your new jutsus until we're out of the village' replied Kyubi.

"Sounds good," said a now more awake Naruto, eager to test his new "Speaker" technique. Prepping himself and focusing on his black chakra, Naruto spread it to the shadows around him and said "Murk Speaker"

Instantly, the world was different. He could see into all the shadows but not only that, he could subtly influence them. Causing them not to move, but darken and or lighten. The stealth abilities would be enormous!

'Wow! That's awesome' thought an incredibly enthused Naruto. 'Hey… that gives me an idea. Kyubi-chan, how would you feel about me pulling a bit of a scare on them?'

'What kind of prank?' asked Kyubi with suspicion. 'It better not be about your new jutsus, because you know we cant until we leave the village.'

'Yeah I know that' sighed an exasperated Naruto, 'I was thinking of a more future timeline. I mean plan it now and then pull it later.'

'Ohhh! Well in that case, what did you have in mind?'

* * *

Kurenai left in near perfect timing to meet with her team and was quite pleased with the promise from the Hokage that Naruto would explain everything to them before the mission but only after they left the village.

It was, as luck would have it that as she walked by the Hyuga mansion just as Hinata raced out her front door.

"Hinata-chan!" called Kurenai. "No need to rush, your not late or anything so why don't we walk together?"

"Oh, well I-I-I guess t-that would be ok" stuttered out Hinata, falling into step behind her sensei. The two walked to the assigned meeting place and met up with Shikamaru with only a few blocks to go.

It was not really a surprise to see that Naruto had gotten there ahead of them. He always seemed to be there well ahead of time. It wasn't that he was early and super enthusiastic about any of the missions and it always puzzled Kurenai, that while he hated the missions that he was sent on, Naruto always seemed to be waiting for them when they got there. No it wasn't that he was there that surprised them, but that he didn't seem to notice them. Indeed, he seemed to be off in his own world and was quietly snickering to him self. Kurenai began to worry. The only time she had ever heard a laugh like that was when Anko was planning one of her more violent pranks.

"Hey Naruto. Early as usual I see." Called Kurenai.

"Huh? Oh you guys are here!" Naruto said with a cheery wave and a loud but not earthshakingly loud yell.

"Of course we are," sighed a tired looking Shikamaru. "Where else would we be? How troublesome."

"H-h-hello, Naruto-k-k-kun" stuttered out a quiet Hinata.

"Well, now that we're all together, we can leave. Does everyone have all their tools?" asked an exited sounding Kurenai. At the nods of her three students, she continued. "Well then lets be off. We need to get back by Monday, and with travel time, we'll only get one day to scope the place, and one night to complete the mission, leaving one day for the return trip so we really must be going. All right! Team10, lets MOVE OUT!"

After about an hour of walking, Kurenai stopped, and stepped in front of Naruto. Leaning down, she looked closely at him as if a doctor over a microscope. After a few seconds, she pushed her finger into her students chest and in an accusatory manner, said; "spill it!"

"W-what are you talking about, Kurenai-sensei?" asked a confused and slightly trembling Hinata.

Shikamaru looked at the whole scene with overly intent eyes and for Shikamaru, that ment that no one was going anywhere without an explanation.

Naruto looked at his teacher and teammates and took a deep breath. 'How much do you think I should tell them Kyubi-chan?'

'…I think that you should tell them everything, but it's against the law to tell them about me being a demon, so you'll have to tell them what you told the third.' Said a slightly nervous sounding Kyubi.

"Okay, I think this might take a while, so should we walk and talk?" asked Naruto as he prepped to give them 'the big speech'.

"Actually," said Kurenai with a slightly devious smile, "anticipating that this would be big, I kind of lied to you. The lord's manor is only about five hours away, so we have plenty of time."

"Oh… hey you tricked me!" yelled Naruto with an annoyed, I'll-get-you-for-that look.

"It was a pretty obvious trick." Drawled a bored sounding Shikamaru. "I mean the Hokage himself said that it was a local lord. If it took a whole day to get to his manor, then he wouldn't be a local lord and we would have to go through a magistrate. You need to think before you talk Naruto, you're so troublesome."

"Heh heh…"Naruto laughed nervously while scratching the back of his head. His teammates sweatdropped. But Kurenai was far from done with Naruto yet. She clenched her teeth and with a rather large vein throbbing in her forehead, grabbed Naruto and swung him off his feet and into a tree, where she pinned him.

"Enough distractions!" she angrily roared. "You tow shut up!" she screamed at Hinata and Shikamaru even though Hinata hadn't even done anything. "And YOU!" she whirled back to Naruto, "start talking!"

Naruto slumped down his head and recited the events that had happened when he was three, and when Kyubi-chan had tried to help him.

* * *

After his tale his team looked shocked and in varying degrees of emotion.

'The fox took him _inside_ the seal?' thought Kurenai in horror, 'What if they switch places and Naruto's trapped and the fox gets lose. But wait; didn't he say that she was just a little girl with no memory, and that he named her? Is she really playing with him, or is it the truth? Or worse, is she someone else that somehow got trapped in him with the fox?'

'So he has a voice in his head, or a person in there? This is troublesome' though Shikamaru wondering if his teammate was insane or not.

Hinata, on the other hand was more worried about the nature of the tenant rather then the tenant itself. 'It's a girl, that lives in Naruto's head. She gets to know what he's like. How he thinks, everything about him. I'm so jealous,' Hinata though with a pout. 'WAIT! Didn't he say that she could see everything he can see? Dose that mean that, she can…even when he…' Hinata's blush grew into a tomato red and she felt a slight drip on her upper lip. She wiped it on the back of her hand and found that she had a small nosebleed. "Eep" she quickly turned away and forced herself to calm down.

"So, what's this about special techniques then?" asked Kurenai. "I mean, are they techniques that anyone can learn, or does your…Guest, help you with them?"

"Huh? No. Well… I suppose that she does help a bit but mostly no. See the Hokage said that because of her, my red chakra was run through her and then to me so it never really completely connected to me. So that helped me unravel it and then the others." Said a smiling Naruto. They knew and so far they seemed to take it well enough, but he was still worried about what they would think if they knew she was a demon.

Naruto's teammates looked at him as if he'd grown a second head, and Kurenai looked even more confused. 'Red' chakra, what did he mean by that? And unraveling? What in the world was he talking about?

"Naruto, what in the name of shinobi everywhere are you talking about?" asked a bewildered Kurenai. "'Red chakra'? 'Unraveling'? You're not making any sense!" Kurenai was practically screaming at him by the end, at the top of her lungs.

* * *

Hours of explanations (as well as almost all his 'colored' techniques being demonstrated) later, the group traveled in nervous and stunned silence. Were they walking with a powerful friend, or a dangerous psychopath? Asked Shikamaru. Was it really Naruto with training or the demon fox in a clever ruse using Naruto as a disguise? Wondered Kurenai.

Hinata on the other hand saw it with nothing but praise. He had done something no one else in the village had ever done. And maybe now he would get fewer glares from everyone, and people would see him the way she did. She had made it as clear as she could through her stutter and another blush brought on by the fraise, 'lets just sleep on it' said by Naruto, to tell him that he had her support. He had livened up immediately and said both a sincere thank you from him and a respectful one from Kyubi. It seemed a large amount of her animosity toward the girl had gone down when she realized that the Hyuga girl really did like him for who he was and nothing else.

With his mind less on worry now that they were assured that he and Kyubi had at least one ally, their internal discussion got back to the topic of mischief, though, with this much tension, he'd have to tune it down it a bit, unless… maybe he could play the same trick he had planned, but with a different target.

* * *

That's a new update. Whew.

I told you I'd have this story going and it's not done for yet. With work now, I have even less time then ever before but I thank you all very much for all your reviews and support and I'll try to fit thins into a larger portion of my schedule :P

Ja Ne.


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